Global Financial Crisis – Philippines

GOODYEAR Philippines Inc. is closing down its tire manufacturing operations by Sept. 30 following a slump in exports, which account for half of its business in the Philippines.

Analysts point to low inflation as big factor   The Philippines will likely avoid a recession this year because of remittances, strong consumption, low inflation and interest rates and high liquidity, business analysts said on Tuesday.

THE global financial crisis has significantly reduced the Filipinos’ working hours this year, the World Bank says.

STANDARD and Poor’s (S&P) forecast Philippine economic expansion to slow down to 1 percent this year due to the lower than expected first quarter growth and a significant shortfall in government revenues.

Second-quarter GDP growth to take a hit   THE Philippine economy may not pick up in the second quarter of the year as four agencies tasked to stimulate growth failed to disburse funds for infrastructure projects.

Special Report: The Millenium Dev’t Goals   LESS than six years remain before the Millennium Declaration reaches 2015 as the target date to halve extreme poverty in all its forms—and the world finds itself mired in an economic crisis that is unprecedented in its severity and global dimensions.

Call centers scrutinize pay structure MANILA, Philippines — The global economic downturn is forcing Philippine-based contact centers to operate more efficiently and keep their costs down, as high operating expenses may make them uncompetitive.

MORE workers in the Mactan Export Processing Zone are expected to lose their jobs this year as the global financial crisis continues to affect some of the locators there.

The Asian Development Bank yesterday said the Philippines is not going to experience economic recession this year because of the continuing growth in remittances and improving business confidence.

MANILA, Philippines – Consumer spending ground to a near-halt in the first quarter of this year but data from the central bank showed that during this time, bank deposits surged 14.8 percent to P3.1 trillion.

MANILA, Philippines – The Financial Stability Board (FSB) held its inaugural meeting in Basel last month, noting signs of improvement in the global macroeconomic outlook and in some financial markets, especially funding markets.

French bank forecast MANILA, Philippines—Paris-based investment bank Calyon sees the Philippine economy growing by only 1 percent this year but avoiding the recession seen in most of its neighboring economies.

MANILA, Philippines – Displaced workers at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) are to become entrepreneurs, as making businessmen out of workers who lose their jobs inside SBMA is the objective of an agreement entered into between SBMA and Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE).

As three more light-industry factories are scheduled to close shop before the end of August 2009 thereby threatening the livelihood of 2,500 more workers, the Partido ng Manggagawa is already sounding a call for a “workers’ bailout” package that includes subsidy to and health coverage for displaced workers, refund of income tax paid by wage…

The US Congress now holds the key for the eventual revival of the country’s garments and textile industry after a US representative filed a bill that would provide preferential treatment to the local exports using American raw materials that was introduced under Save Our Industries Act of 2009.

As proof that the worst has yet to come in the labor front, multinational lingerie maker Triumph International will cease operations in the country that would result in the layoff of 1,662 local employees.

THERE IS, to my mind, needless debate on whether or not the Philippine economy will go into recession this year.

Special Report: DOST helps SMEs survive FROM an association of agrarian farmers to a flower cooperative, from a shrimp fry hatchery to banana tissue culture businesses, small entrepreneurs across the country are demonstrating that they can cope with the global financial crisis.

As President Arroyo waxed proudly yesterday about the similarity of her supposed cash transfer program with a scheme being implemented in Brazil, where she is on an official visit, a financial assistance scheme for displaced workers in the Philppines has been put off after providing loans to 100 individuals.

The country’s top economist said yesterday the private sector should not be forced to fork in their share in the vague economic resiliency program (ERP) of President Arroyo since their involvement in identifying public infrastructure may involve conflict of interest.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Philippines were cutting costs and shifting strategies to stay alive amid the global economic slowdown, a recent poll showed.

ALARMED by the impact of the global economic turmoil, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is pushing the Philippines to create a task force headed by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to respond to the global economic crisis.

JUST when the Filipino masses were wondering how the economic meltdown was shaping up with regard to them—with mixed signals coming from various quarters on the issue—along comes Paul Roebuck, chief executive officer of BBDO Gurrero/Proximity Philippines with glad tidings. 

GENEVA – After all is said and done, now comes the hard part. At the conclusion of the three-day Job Summit organized by the International Labor Organization (ILO), member-states agreed in principle to adopt a Global Jobs Pact, which puts jobs creation and social protection at the core of stimulus packages.

Malacañang conceded on Tuesday that there was cause for concern over a World Bank prediction that the Philippines would slip to “outright recession” this year, even as the Finance secretary rejected the idea.

MANILA, Philippines – The World Bank (WB) expects the Philippines to hit “outright recession” this year with domestic production declining by half a percent before recovering to a 2.4-percent growth in 2010 and 4.5 percent in 2011.

NEDA official disputes World Bank warning   The World Bank predicted on Monday that the Philippines was likely to slip into “outright recession” this year because scenarios for recovery of the global economy remained uncertain, but a top Filipino economic manager belittled the warning.

MANILA, Philippines—Canadian electronics firm Celestica Inc. is shutting down its factory in the central Philippines, with the loss of about 1,000 jobs, the government said Friday.

MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos are better equipped to deal with the impending recession and the slowdown of the global economy because we are used to hard times, a survey disclosed yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – Exporters remain hopeful the market will post positive growth towards the end of 2009 as the industry is expected to recover from the impact of the global financial crisis, but average growth for the year will remain at the negative territory with an eight percent contraction.